Saturday, 13 October 2012

Little Lamb - Charcoal BBQ and Hot Pot Buffet

Little Lamb is a combined hot pot and charcoal grill buffet situated in a small shopping complex in Eight Mile Plains. It is in the older complex opposite Warrigal Square. As to how new this place is, I'm not certain. The staff speak mainly Chinese so there was a language barrier. I let my friend Peter do most of the talking here.

This place was big, loud and very busy. Customers are constantly getting up to grab food from the buffet area so it can get a bit overwhelming. This is a place you go to with a large group of friends and spend all night there cooking and eating. Bookings are a must otherwise you will find yourself waiting for a table.

Each table has an inbuilt grill box which they top with hot coal when your table is seated. Beside the grill is an induction cooktop for the hot pot. They offer spicy soup and normal soup and they have a split soup bowl so the table can order both types. Charcoal Skewers - (from the far right - sweet potato, taro balls, chicken wing, lamb) This was my favourite part of Little Lamb.
The grill had rotating wheels on the sides to cook the skewers evenly, similar to a rotisserie. We simply popped the skewers on the grill and
ignored it while we had our hotpot. The
skewers were already marinated but they also provided each table with
spice shakers to season it to our liking. Peter being the Mainlander at
the table, expertly seasoned the skewers for us. He said this was
the closest he's had to food from Mainland. That's a definite compliment. The best skewers had to be the lamb, chicken and fish (not shown). If anyone has ever eaten at BBQ Tempt in Market Square, these skewers are very similar to the grilled dishes there. I don't know if Little Lamb is named after their lamb skewers but they were amazing. It had a mix of Asian flavours and Middle Eastern spices which went really well together. Hot pot - Spicy soup and plain soup

I can't speak for the plain broth as I only had the spicy one. It had a good flavour and was very spicy. You could taste all the nice aromatics they usually put in a traditional Chinese hot pot. We stocked up mainly on enoki mushrooms, pippies, shaved pork, tofu and boy choy. There were also various types of fish balls to choose from as well. I couldn't possibly try to list all the types of fillings available because there was so much. I was disappointed that they didn't have any quail egg which is usually my highlight for hot pot but I happily replaced it with plates and plates of pippies.

Chaotic table shot

Buffet Selection

To top off the already wide selection of food, Little Lamb also has various fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, fried chicken and other fried goods. The $29.90 buffet also includes soft drinks, ice cream and fruits. I personally didn't get to the ice cream but the boys had a plate or two after all this food so it was definitely worth while. My tips are to book in advance, don't get too excited and try to grab everything - you can't possibly try everything and fit it all at once on your table, don't wear your best clothes as this place does get smokey with all the grilling and also get your skewers on early as they take longer to cook.ReviewLittle Lamb258 Warrigal RdEIGHT MILE PLAINS QLD